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Charlotte Dee, Mrs Charles Edmund Nugent (1756-1813), as Mrs Johnstone
Thomas Lawrence·1789
Historical Context
Charlotte Dee, later Mrs. Charles Edmund Nugent, is depicted here in the guise of Mrs. Johnstone, indicating a theatrical or fancy-dress portrait from 1789. Lawrence was only twenty when he painted this work, yet the confidence and charm of the composition already presage his dazzling career. The fancy-dress format allowed creative freedom, and Lawrence's spirited handling of costume — loose, rapid, and shimmering — anticipates the bravura that would define his mature style.
Technical Analysis
The fancy-dress conceit allows the young Lawrence to experiment with color and costume beyond normal portrait conventions. The result is a more playful composition than his later formal portraits, with brighter hues and a more animated pose that reveals his early facility with paint.
Look Closer
- ◆Notice the brighter hues and more animated pose of the fancy-dress format: Lawrence experiments with color outside normal portrait conventions.
- ◆Look at the spirited, loose handling of the costume: the young Lawrence showing his facility with paint in a less constrained format.
- ◆Observe this is Lawrence at twenty: the fancy-dress commission allows creative freedom that formal portraiture denied.
- ◆Find the bravura that would define his mature style: already present at twenty in passages of shimmering, rapid brushwork.
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